Top Shelf Comix has announced a new graphic novel by Peter and Maria Hoey, creators of Coin-Op Comics.
Animal Stories will collect six stories by the siblings that explore “the mysterious relationships between humans and other animals.”
Top Shelf says the stories are inspired by everything from Aesop’s Fables to film noir:
After tremendous acclaim for their series Coin-Op Comics, two brilliant creators present their first graphic novel: a menagerie of wild tales. Pushing the boundaries of their dazzling and unique narrative style, Animal Stories weaves together six short stories exploring the mysterious relationships between humans and other animals.
A girl who keeps pigeons starts receiving messages from a new bird in her flock. A ship’s crew rescue a dog, only to find far stranger things in the sea around them. A reincarnated cat with criminal intentions, a parrot who leads a revolution, and a squirrel who tempts a woman in a beautiful garden glade.
Drawing inspiration from Aesop’s Fables, film noir, and the Old Testament, Peter and Maria Hoey apply their singular and sophisticated visual storytelling to create a new set of modern animal tales for modern times.
Here’s a preview of one of the stories, “The Outside Cat,” which demonstrates where the “film noir” comes in:
Top Shelf will release the 176-page graphic novel in December.